“The bathtub/shower stall of my log Pan-Abode cottage needed a facelift. I applied three coats of polyurethane and they’ve now peeled.”

Stu C.

Port Perry

Spring is still weeks away, but it’s never too early to start thinking about the big melt — and the potential for a wading pool in your basement if you don’t take the right precautions.

“Pretty soon the snow will all melt and a ton of water is going to start making its way into your weeping tiles and down into the house,” says TV reno expert Bryan Baeumler. “You’re going to want to check your sump pump, control the water flow and make sure it doesn’t get into your home.”

Chances are a lot of questions popped into your head after reading that. No worries. The Leave it to Byan host and co-star of Canada’s Handyman Challenge — both on HGTV — has all the info you need.

The July 2013 flood found its way into the basement of our home built in the early 1950s. What’s the best way to waterproof an old house — from outside or inside? What do we look for in a contractor? What’s the safest material to use for flooring? Now we understand the black adhesive used to stick old 9-inch x 9-inch tiles, that were beneath laminate, may have asbestos. Groan.

Ruth & Rick Malecki, Etobicoke

Welcome to living in a home built in the ’50s. If you had a flood, it sounds like you don’t have a sump pump and proper weeping system. So you should have a foundation contractor come in and look at installing weeping tiles around the house, bringing a line through the house into a sump pit and having that pumped outside.

When it comes to water-proofing, think about it like this: if you have a hole in a boat, is it better to stick a piece of gum in it from the inside, or is it better to patch it from the outside so that the water actually holds the patch against the boat? It’s always better to waterproof from the outside. But if the neighbours are very close or there are a lot of gas lines and water lines outside, they may not be able to dig from outside. You’ll want to get a professional foundation contractor come in and assess the situation.

As far as the safest material for flooring, I would never use a hardwood in a basement, ever, because there’s too much humidity and it will expand and contract. I would put in a Dricore subfloor that will leave airspace beneath the floor for any moisture to evaporate. On top of that, laminate and sheet vinyl are pretty resilient.

The 9-inch x 9-inch tiles typically do contain asbestos, but it’s the non-friable kind. It won’t go airborne unless you take a power saw to the tiles and release the fibres. Scraping them up with a shovel and getting rid of them is fine. If you’re not going to tile directly on the concrete, which you shouldn’t anyway, you can leave that in place and put a Dricore subfloor right over top of it. There you go. Now stop groaning!

My home was built in 1972. Where the brick walls meet a hard surface, like the driveway asphalt or patio stone, the first or second brick up seems to slightly dissolve. I put a concrete face around one area, now the brick above the face is affected. Sealers don’t seem to work. Help, my house is dissolving!

Dave D., Uxbridge

Relax Dave, your house isn’t dissolving — moisture from the ground is getting into the bricks. The bricks really shouldn’t be down at ground level because they absorb moisture. The foundation should extend up above any hard surfaces or dirt, by at least six inches. The brick should start above that.

When the bricks are at ground level and they get wet in the cold, they freeze, and because they’re made of clay, they start to break apart and literally turn into powder. The sealers aren’t going to work because the bricks themselves are very porous. You could parge over the face of the bricks, or have a mason come in and look at it.

The bathtub/shower stall of my log Pan-Abode cottage, on Lake Kashwakamak, needed a facelift. I applied three coats of polyurethane and they’ve now peeled. Online research reveals that nasty chemicals can be applied before starting over. Would a heat gun be a better bet? What’s the correct product to apply? Thanks Bryan!

Stu C., Port Perry

Wood is not really a shower material. My recommendation would be not to treat the wood. You don’t just want to put a clear coat on the wood because, with any tiny pinhole or surface variation, the water is going to get through that clear coat, causing it to peel and damaging the wood.

The best thing you can do is put up a waterproof backing system — like a Wedi shower underlay system — around the tub, which would create a waterproof surround for the tub and shower. Then install your tiles on that.

If you’ve applied the polyurethane to the rest of bathroom and you’ve got an issue with it, there are environmentally-friendly strippers you can use to remove it. I wouldn’t use a heat gun because you run the risk of the polyurethane letting fumes off when you heat it up, and you could char the wood. But you could wear a proper safety mask and sand it. You want to make sure you’ve got a fan in there, as well, to get rid of excess moisture.

Bryan, we have a damaged corniceon a wall where drywall was used to cover a fireplace. A piece of the ceiling is also damaged and there are some water stains on this portion of the ceiling. It seems as though the ceiling has a wire mesh in it and we think the spray material used is covering up some ceiling cracks. We have been in the house eight years and this is just now happening.

Pat L., Newmarket

Well, Pat, if there are stains appearing in the ceiling, there’s a leak somewhere. It sounds like you’ve got a plaster-and-lathe house, and in a lot of those houses, they used to put wire mesh in the corners and cover up the plaster.

The first thing you should do is have an environmental testing company test the plaster for asbestos before you start tearing it out. If there is asbestos, you could either bring in an asbestos abatement company or leave it in place and not disturb it. A lot of old plaster that looks like it’s been sprayed is actually a plaster that contains a high amount of asbestos.

For repairs, it’s usually something you want to hire a taper or plasterer for and it’s worth spending a few dollars on. They’ll use a Durabond or Sheetrock 90, a fast-drying type of plaster, and mix that up, slowly building the profile of the plaster. It’s quite an art.

We’re in our mid 60’s, have no reno skills nor the desire to cultivate them. While we love our plaster stucco ceilings, they are developing small cracks, (it’s driving one of us crazy), so it’s time to have them removed. Is this something a general contractor would do or is a specific trade required?

Senga and Willie Milne, Scarborough

There are a couple things a general contractor can do for your situation. And there certainly are companies that specialize in plaster and dry wall that can come in and either supply stucco, or re-sheet it with drywall, or put a skin coat over the ceiling, sand it down and remove it. But typically, what they’ll do — if the stucco isn’t too old and hasn’t been painted over too many times — is they’ll spray it with water, let the water absorb and scrape it off the ceiling with a putty knife. It’s an extremely messy job.

But sometimes you spray and scrape it, and it just doesn’t want to come off. In that case, the easiest thing to do is rip all the drywall down and put new drywall up and tape it. Or have a plasterer come in and do a skin coat right over top of everything, flatten it out, sand it and then refinish the surface. A general contractor may do it or you may want to contact a drywall contractor.

Is it normal to have frost on the inside of your roof? What is a good thickness for insulation in a ceiling? How many soffit vents should you have?

Roger Simpson, Oshawa

Well, Roger, unfortunately, in homes that don’t have great air circulation in the attic, it’s pretty common to have frost on the inside of the roof. But you certainly should not have it. That’s an indication there’s too much warmth and moisture getting into the attic and there’s not enough airflow to get rid of it. Make sure your dryer, shower, bathroom or stove vent isn’t actually emptying into the attic and allowing moist air to condense.

All your soffits should be vented. The more venting the better, to allow more air to get in there. Ridge vents are the most effective at allowing air to get out of there and let that moisture escape.

As far as a good thickness for insulation, you should have at least R40 in your attic, which would typically be about 12 inches, minimum. But the key is to make sure you have a proper vapour barrier underneath that insulation between the warm part of your house and the coldness of the attic.

Bryan Baeumler appears twice a month in New in Homes & Condos. He’s the host of Leave it to Bryan, Mondays at 10 p.m. and co-stars in Canada’s Handyman Challenge, both on HGTV Canada. Send your questions for Bryan to Newhomes@thestar.ca with “Bryan” in the subject line. Contact him at baeumler.ca, on Facebook or Twitter @Bryan_Baeumler.